


Fast Car

by ErrolsFeather, NightWriter89



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 08:46:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14712902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErrolsFeather/pseuds/ErrolsFeather, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWriter89/pseuds/NightWriter89
Summary: Emma Swan is the DJ of the late night radioshow 'Midnight Swan' at the local radionetwork in Storybrooke. For months she has a regular caller, Regina. Then suddenly Regina stops calling and Emma fears she might never find out why...





	Fast Car

  
Three weeks.   
  
It had been three weeks since Regina had last called.   
  
The realization was hitting home as Emma Swan, host of the show Midnight Swan on Radio Storybrooke, only half-listened to the caller’s request. It wasn’t like she didn’t care to listen to her listeners, it was just the dawning realization that her usual caller hadn’t called in three weeks.

The only thing she knew about her usual caller was that it was a woman with a sultry voice going by the name of Regina and she only had one request; Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car. Emma almost had it standard on her playlist these past months.

The first time Regina had called had been on a Wednesday night in May. It had been past 2 a.m. and Emma had asked why Regina was up this late. The woman had been vague about it, only said it was a recent development. Emma hadn’t pushed further as it was still radio, and she had asked Regina what song she wanted to hear. Regina had asked for Fast Car and Emma had played it immediately.

The song itself wasn’t unusual and Emma felt the urge to play the song, to keep the memory of Regina alive. Because in the past month Regina had only requested the song and ended the call. Emma had noticed her voice had started to get weaker over the months and these past weeks Emma had to strain her hearing to hear Regina’s voice.

And maybe that was why Emma was so worried Regina hadn’t called in about three weeks. Because she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad had happened, something irreversible. Next to that, next to the worry, Emma had to admit she missed Regina’s voice. Emma missed hearing that sultry voice she, and she would never admit this out loud, had fallen in love with. She knew nothing about this Regina, only how her voice sounded and what her favorite song was.

She knew she would never find out about what happened to her usual caller, as the studio had no ID-caller and yet she needed to find out. Because hearing how Regina’s voice got weaker week by week had Emma wanting to reach to the phone and hug the woman, as if to protect her from all the bad in the world.   
  
_I'll be with you, I'll be waiting for you_  
 _On the other side, on the other side_  
 _And the winds that blow they'll guide you home_  
 _Get you through the night, get you through the night_  
 _It will all be right_   
  
Tears were streaming down Emma’s face as the lyrics hit her hard. Her caller had asked for With You by Matt Simons and, without thinking, Emma had played it. Now her heart was aching for a woman she didn’t know the faith of and it was breaking her into a thousand pieces. And so she cried in the silence of the studio where no one could see her.

Suddenly the phone rang sharply and Emma brushed away the tears and took a shaky breath. She switched on the microphone and the phone channel.   
  
“Radio Storybrooke, with Emma. What can I do for you tonight?” she asked as cheerfully as she could.   
  
“Hi, this is Henry,” a really young boyish voice sounded on the other side of the line.   
  
Emma frowned at hearing the young voice, it was already past 1:30 a.m.   
  
“Hello, Henry. You sound very young, how old are you?” she asked curiously, Regina temporarily forgotten.   
  
“I’m thirteen,” he replied.   
  
“Then you're up late, Henry. Can’t sleep?” she asked further.   
  
“No.”   
  
She thought she could hear him sniff, but it might have been a crackle on the line.   
  
“Because I’m sad.”   
  
“Can I play you something to cheer you up?” she asked, hoping that would be the right course to take.   
  
“No. I want to request a song for my mom. She died,” Henry said.   
  
A cold chill ran down Emma’s spine.   
  
“I’m so sorry to hear, Henry. What song can I play for you?” she asked, her hands already on her keyboard.   
  
“Fast Car by Tracy Chapman.”   
  
Emma’s heart skipped a beat as her mind immediately flew back to Regina. This was Regina’s song. Could it… Could it be that this wasRegina’s son? Would this be her usual caller, the usual caller whose voice Emma had fallen in love with, that she would never hear it again?

Her heart raced as the next questioned burned on her lips.   
  
“Henry, what was your mother’s name?”   
  
_“Regina.”_


End file.
